In Between

I find myself in an interesting situation. I finished my first draft of Next Time on Christmas Eve. It is now sitting in a virtual drawer for at least a month before I begin the first round of edits. I find that any story I write needs some time to get out of my brain since editing is a much different process than writing on it every day for two months.

I’m looking at ways to publish First, which currently needs no extra work on the manuscript. I have some leads but right now that’s not taking up all my morning time I set up for writing.

So, I have a few options to use the time wisely, other than writing this blog entry, of course.

#1, I could begin writing my next book. That would occupy me until at least March, meaning if I need to do other things for getting First published I’d have to interrupt the writing. It’s possible, but not my first choice.

#2, I could edit Assignment Day. Like #1, though, that’s going to take up some serious time. Maybe I could do some initial brainstorming, though, on the major edits that I need to make.

#3, I could do character sketches on everyone in First. I found it’s a good exercise. Some people do them before writing a book, but I like to let the characters develop and then go back and add things into the sketches that might not make it into the next version of the book, but help me add texture to their lives. For this option I go back to #1, where everything needs to stay in the drawer for a while.

#4, I could write a short story. This idea has some appeal since it could end up being a bonus for when I eventually set up an email list on this site. Bonus stories are a nice add to entice people to sign up, especially if they’re in the same universe as a book I’m promoting.

#2 and #4 look the best right now. I shall ponder this a little bit more, but not too long. Time’s a-wasting.